Dan Rozansky recently spoke to ALM about Canada-based music streaming platform Musi's lawsuit against Apple over the removal of its app from the App Store due to copyright infringement concerns. While Musi has accused Apple of participating in a "backchannel scheme with music-industry conglomerates bent on Musi's destruction," a California federal court recently rejected the platform's request for a preliminary injunction.
Dan explains to ALM that this case could establish a precedent for the rights of companies that provide app stores to remove apps at their discretion. He draws parallels to the landmark 2001 U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling in A&M Records v. Napster, which established a paradigm for intellectual property law online.
"It's reminiscent of that. So I think people are watching this case," Dan tells ALM.
Dan notes that while Apple is not held liable for others' infringing conduct under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it is required to reasonably monitor the behavior of apps in its store.
"Apple's position is: we took reasonable steps as prudent businesspeople to remove this app while there's a dispute going on between YouTube and Musi and other stakeholders regarding whether Musi's conduct is legal," Dan explains. "Apple's saying, 'It's not our fight. We have a good reason to take it down. And that's what we've done.'"
